Inking mechanism



Apr. 17, 1923. 1,452,6)43

C.` W. HARROLD INKING MECHANISM Filed May 2'7. 1919 A TTORN Y Patented Apr. l?, 1923i.

UNET TATS PATENT @FFHQQ CHARLES W. HARROLD, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO TUE HARRIS AUTOMATEC PRESS COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, .A CGEPORATION OF OHIO.

INKING MECHANISM.

Application led May 27,

T o all whom t may con-cem Be it known that I, CHARLES W. HAnRoLD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Inking Mechanisms, of which the following is a specification, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

g My invention relates -to inking mecha- 'nisms for printing and lithographing presses and other similar machines, and the objects of my invention are, among other things, to provide a novel inking mechanism which is simple in its construction, positively controlled and actuated in its operation, and which will distribute and apply the ink uniformly Without forming films of ink of irregular thicknesses on the inking rolls, more particularly on the ductor roll as the ink is applied thereto from the fountain roll. In printing machines utilizing roller inking mechanisms such fountain roll is usually intermittently rotated by any suitable driving device connected with the press itself, the extent of its rotation in any cycle of opera- T tion being adjustable according to the qua-ntity of ink required for any particular job, and a articular object of my invention is to providP means whereby the fountain roll and ductor roll may be positively rotated in unison and at the same speed when the former is rotated, instead of allowing the ductor roll to be rotated solely byA its frictional contact with the fountain roll which method of operation is likely to cause slipping and piling up of the ink on the surface of the ductor roll. A further object of my invention is to provide means whereby the ductor roll may be positively controlled and driven both by the ink drum or distributing rollers and also by'the fountain roll acting alternately, so that the ductor roll may at all times be not only under direct control but also be positively actuated during the inking distribution between the various inkinfr rollers.

Further objects and advantages will appear hereinafter and be particularly pointed outin the claims, and I have shown a pre- 1919. Serial N0. 300,093.

ferred embodiment of my invention in the accompanying dra-Wings in which- Figure l is a top plan View of my improved inking mechanism, the fountain-roll actuating mechanism being omitted;

Figure 2 is an end view looking in the' direction of the arrow in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation, partly in section, illustrating a. method of mounting the friction disk to coact with the shiftable inking drum; and

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the disks at the ends of the ductor and fountain rolls.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts through the several figures.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, the frame work 9 of the press supports the ink fountain 10 which holds the ink to be applied to the fountain roll 11 mounted on the shaft 12 which is suitably journalled in the frame 9. On one end ofthe shaft 12 the ratchet 13 is aiixed and to this shaft the rock arm 14 carrying the pawl 15 is journalled, the pawl 15 being adapted to coact with the ratchet 13. The arm 14 is intermittently rocked on the shaft 12 by the link 16 which is reciprocated from any suitable source 'of power connected with the press and is not shown. By this mechanism the fountain roll 11 is intermittently rotated in the direction of the arrows shown in Fi re 2.

The ducto-r roll 17 mounted on the shaft 18 is adapted to receive the supply of ink from the fountain roll 11 and thereafter transfers same to the surface of the revolving inkin k,drum or distributing rollers to be therea ter carried and applied to the printing plate or type of the /press The ends of the shaft 18 are carried by the forked ends 19 of the rock arms 20 affixed to the rock shaft 21 pivoted in the frame 9; Likewise aflixed to the shaft 21 is the arm 22 carrying at its extremity the cam-roller 23 adapted to coact with the cam 24 mounted on the shaft 25 which carries the inking drum 26. The shaft 25 is journalled in the frame 9 and is driven in any suitable manner (not shown). The cam 24 is so arranged on the shaft 25 that the cam-roller 23 bears upon the high part of the cam 24, thereby pressing the ductor roller 17 a ainst the fountain roll 11 during the erio when the pawl and ratchet drive for t e fountain roll 11 is ,acting to rotate such fountain roll 11, the rolls 11 and 17 beingy in surface-to-surface contact when the fountain roll 11 lis rotated.

In Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 I have show n the form of my inking mechanism in which 1t is advantageous and desirable to drive the ductor roll 17 in unison with the inklng drum 26 when both are in operative contact as shown in Figure 2, to the end that the ductor 1 roll 17 may be at all times in the cycle of operation positively driven and also under positive control from the motive power of the ress when it is either receiving or distributing the ink as hereinbeforedescribed, that is to say, in one part of the cycle the ductor roll 17 is positively actuated and controlled by the mechanism which drives the fountain' roll l1, and in another stage in the cycle of operation this ductor roll is positively actuated and controlled by the more rapidly revolving inkingdrum 26. Referring to F igure 1, the fountain roll 11 has the female frictional disk member 35 secured thereto b a key as shown in Figure 4, such disk 35 consisting of yieldingly associated members, the movable member being backed by the springs 36 secured between the disk 35 and the collar 37 secured to the shaft 12, as shown in Figure 1. The ductor roll 17 also has the male fric! tion disk member 38 adapted to coact with the disk 35 on the fountain roll and also with the female friction diskmember 39 slidingly mounted on the shaft 25 of the inking drum 26 so as to be held against lateral displacement whenever the inking drum 26 is shifted slightly in a longitudinal direction in accordance with the best practice in printing presses, the disk 39 being held in the bracket 40 secured to the frame of the machine and is operatively connected to the shaft 25 by a feather 42. In Figure 4, I have shown diagrammatically the two positions of the ductor roll risk 38; when the disk 38 on the ductor roller shaft 18 is in operative contact with the fountain roll disk 35, it is shown in dotted lines, but when the disk 38 contacts with the inking drum disk 39 it is shown in full lines.

It is obvious that other means of operatively connecting the ductor roll 17 with both the fountain roll 11 and the inking drum 26 may be devised to the end that such ductor roll may be positively actuated and controlled by the particular roll with which it may be in frictional contact, but the foregoing construction in which a friction disk drive is f utilized is a preferred embodiment of my inthe ductor roll 17 is not sufficient to cause rotation of the fountain roll 11 when they are brought into contact as the latter ts closely in its bearings at .the ends of the fountain 10, and the friction of these end bearings andof the fountain blade is greater than the momentum of the ductor roll which has already slackened its rotative speed when it reaches contact With the` fountain roll. There may be initially'a slight relativemovement between the peripheral surfaces of these two rolls but the ductor roll 17 having previously transferred its ink to the ink drum 26 has only a very thin film of ink remaining on its surface. This thin film may have a tendency to pile up slightly along the lower line of contact of the rolls, but the quantity is small and this is rolled or ironed out by the positive rolling contact of these two members on the next rotative movement of the fountain roll 11; in other words such piled-up ink ilni is again distributed over the surface of the ductor roll 17 simultaneously with the new supply of ink from the fountain roll.

My invention, in its broadest aspects, is

y not limited to the particular constructions shown, no r to any particular constructions or arrangements of parts by which it has been, or may be, carried into effect, as many changes and alterations may be made in the structures shown without departing from the principles of the invention, and without sacrificing its chief advantages.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an inking mechanism, an intermittently rotatable fountain roll, an independent-ly rotatable inking drum, said roll and drum rotating at different speeds, a ductor roll movable alternately into contact with said fountain roll and inking drum, and independent coacting means carried by said fountain roll, said inking drum and said ductor roll and directly controlled by the relative position of the ductor roll for driving same from either the fountain roll or the inking drum.

2. In an inking mechanism, an intermittently rotatable fountain roll, -an independently rotatable inking drum, said roll' and drum rotating at different speeds, a ductor rol movable alternately into contact with said fountain roll and inking drum, and independent coacting means carried by said fountain roll, said inking drum and said ductor roll and directly controlled by' the relative position of the ductor roll for driving same in unison with either the fountain roll or the inking drum.

13. In an inking mechanism, an intermittently rotatable fountain roll, an independently rotatable inking drum, said roll and drum rotating at different speeds, a ductor roll movable alternately into contact with said fountain roll and inking drum, and independent coacting means carried by said fountain roll, said inking drum and said ductor roll and directly controlled by the l relative position of the ductor roll for driving same from either the fountain roll or the inking drum alternately when in op erative contact, said means automatically releasing the ductor roll when moved out of operative Contact with either fountain roll or inking drum. A

4. In an inking mechanism, an intermittently rotatable fountain roll, an independently rotatable inking drum, said roll and drum rotating at different speeds, a ductor u:roll movable alternately into contact with said fountain roll and inking drum, and independent coacting means carried by said fountain roll, said inking drum and said ductor roll and' directly controlled by the relative position of the ductor roll for .driving same in unison with either'the fountain roll or the inking drum alternately when in operative contact, said means automatically releasing the ductor roll when moved out of operative contact with either fountain roll or inking drum.

5. In an inking mechanism, a bodily movable ductor roll and means separate from the peripheral surface of said roll and directly controlled by the movements of said roll for frictionally drivingr same at different speeds in different positions in its cycle of operation.

6. In -an inking mechanism, a bodily movable duotor roll and means separate from the peripheral surface of said roll for driving same alternately at different speeds controlled by the movements of the roll. p

7. In an inking mechanism, a bodily movable ductor roll and means separate from the peripheral surface of said roll for fricytionally driving same at different speeds in CHARLES W. HARROLD. 

